Soul Blossoms

Waahooooo!

Marta and Orlando's Soul Blossoms quilt is complete. I'm really happy with it and i can't wait to give it to them.

I was inspired to make it after seeing a quilt made by Ann D. Hansen called 'x-tra ordinary' (p.28 of her book make it Modern Quilts (more about it here). I chose to use fabrics from Amy Butlers' Soul Blossoms range which are bright and cheery and i hope will bring a taste of spring to their bedroom no matter what season it is outside.

I can highly recommend the pattern, although i did find the corners of each block were quite difficult to match perfectly despite efforts to be accurate with my 1/4 inch seam and squaring up.

Gemma from Pretty Bobbins did a great job quilting it for me (thanks Gemma!). Because the quilt is so large and will be used as a bed quilt, we chose a lose edge to edge design of simple feathers in pale blue Aurifil thread. The Matilda's Own wadding, which is 100% wool, is lovely and soft with a great loft.....perfect for snuggling!

I pieced the back with what i had left from the Soul Blossoms fabrics together with some coordinating prints. I chose to bind the quilt with a green and yellow stripe which i reckon gives it an Aussie touch and looks pretty cute too.

We recently headed out west on an adventure in the van to the Young and Temora region, and visited our friend Rupert at the Allambie Cherry Orchard on the way. Allambie is in Wombat and at the end of September, the cherry trees were in full blossom, making it a spectacular place to take some photo's of Marta and Orlando's Soul Blossoms quilt. Our little Hurricane enjoyed helping me set up the quilt and running amongst the cherry trees. Thanks for letting us wander through the orchard Rupert, we can't wait to come back and sample some of those delicious cherries!

I'm really happy with this Soul Blossoms quilt and hope that Marta and Orlando will like it very much. Best wishes Marta and Orlando!

Soul Blossoms Quilt Specs:

Completed Size:   2.2m x 2.7m
Pattern:                  'x-tra ordinary' by Ann D. Hansen
                                 (p.28 of her book 'make it Modern Quilts')
Fabric:                    Amy Butlers Soul Blossom range (quilt top)
Quilting:                Simple Feathers (e2e)
                                (by Gemma from Pretty Bobbins)

Linking up with:
- Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday
- Gemma for I Quilt Thursday at Pretty Bobbins and
- Lorna for Lets Bee Social

Soul Blossoms Quilt Top

Last week, i managed to piece together all the blocks for Marta and Orlando's Quilt. The Amy Butler Soul Blossoms fabric really shines and i'm stoked with how it's turned out.

 Inspired by a quilt by Ann D. Hansen called 'x-tra ordinary'  on p.28 of her book 'make it Modern Quilts' (more info here), i think the use of Amy Butlers Soul Blossoms fabric in this quilt design really makes it sing.

Thanks to all those who have shared their advice regarding binding and quilting. I've really appreciated the diversity of suggestions which helped me a great deal when i made my final selections.

Linking up with:
- Lee for WiP Wednesday
- Amanda Jean for Finish it Up Friday
- Gemma for I Quilt Thursday at Pretty Bobbins and
- Lorna for Lets Bee Social

Binding suggestions please??

100 blocks for Marta's quilt are well and truly ready for final piecing together. Despite my best efforts to keep accurate, they did need some squaring up in the end, but now, as 10 x 10 inch blocks they look good. There are some that are less than ideal, but i'm pretty happy with them.

It's nice to see the overall colour scheme come together and see the crosses link up the blocks.

I'm looking forward to piecing together the quilt top.

Thanks to all those that have given me some suggestions for quilting.....you've given me some great ideas and some i hadn't thought of. 

Binding suggestion please????

I'm still undecided what colour and/or print of fabric i should use to bind the quilt. I'm keen to avoid any more pink colours (thinking of my brother-in-law who will probably wish for something less feminine?). You all had such great quilting suggestions and i'd love for you to share with me what you think i should use for binding!

Linking up (eventually!) with Lorna for Lets Bee Social and Lee for WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Marta's Quilt..... is taking shape!

Well, after a few weeks of cutting and piecing, Marta's quilt is beginning to take shape.

Marta and Orlando have a whopping size bed (i think it's even bigger than a king size!), so this is going to be an equally large quilt. Yikes!! I've cut 100, 10.5 x 10.5 inch squares, and have managed to piece together the shades of pink squares with their green crosses.

I have found that i've need to be super accurate with cutting and with my 1/4 inch seam so that when i square up the block, i don't cut too much off and also so that the crosses will meet neatly with the next blocks. Even so, there are still some blocks that are less than ideal. But overall, i'm pretty happy with how they are turning out so far. It should look even better when i make up the green shaded blocks with pink crosses.

I also made the online-purchase mistake of ordering fabric in mid/heavy weight, which despite being absolutely lovely and matching the colours perfectly, is a bit too thick, so today i headed off to Addicted2Fabric to get some Michael Miller solid in pink......and it's perfect! Perhaps the heavier drill fabric will be ideal for some pillows to match?

Please help! Quilting ideas and suggestions?

So i figure, i'm a bit over half way through the piecing ....waahoooo! I'm starting to wonder about what the best way to quilt it will be. I'm pretty confident that its going to be waaaay too whoppingly large (think....2.4 x 2.8m) for me to quilt on my home machine, so i'm thinking of asking a long-armer to quilt it for me. But, i have no idea about what pattern or design? Should i go for an overall type pattern of swirls or perhaps accentuate the cross pattern with some straight lines? I'd sure love to hear your ideas and suggestions. Here is a picture of the original quilt by Ann D. Hansen called 'x-tra ordinary' (p.28 of her book 'make it Modern Quilts') which gives you an idea of how the blocks will look when they're pieced together.

Linking up with Lorna for Lets Bee Social and Lee for WiP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Marta's quilt fabics

I've been wanting to make a quilt for my sister and brother in law, Marta and Orlando, for a while now. Marta is coming to visit us later this year in September, so my thoughts have turned to making her a quilt. That gives me around 3-4 months to make and quilt this gift, so not a whole stack of time, but hopefully enough.

I saw a beautiful quilt by Ann D. Hansen called 'x-tra ordinary' (p.28 of her book 'make it Modern Quilts') and fell in love with it straight away. I reckon it looks pretty fancy but achievable in the time frame i have....

x-tra ordinary 2; p.32 make it Modern Quilts by Ann D. Hansen

So while my husband was recently in the U.S. i asked him to pick me up some Amy Butler Soul Blossoms fabrics from Hawthawn Threads. I haven't used any fabrics from this range before but wasn't disappointed when they arrived home with my husband yesterday. The colours are so pretty and together with some coordinating solids and a bit of Jennifer Paganelli, Beauty Queen, should suit the x-tra ordinary pattern well.

Now my next quilt making adventure can begin.....now i just need my 'little hurricane' to sleep well so i can get some sewing time in....

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash